Cooking your favourite meal is exhilarating in itself but it’s even better when the aroma of your kebab and grilled meatballs smells heavenly.
To accentuate the taste of dishes many chefs use lemon leaves to add a twist of flavour.
Lemon leaves are a perfect ingredient in many cuisines to add a citrusy flavour. It is very common in Thai, Indian and Indonesian recipes.
Interestingly, this quintessential ingredient can be used in various forms. From adding fresh leaves, and sprinkling dried leaf powder, to flash-fry to lock the taste of the leaf.
Usage of lemon leaves
- Put a few crushed lemon leaves into your soup to add a flavour of citrus undertone. It tastes better in soups like lemons and coriander soups.
- Use it for roasting chicken or turkey. Marinate the meat into crushed lemon leaves or wrap it around the pieces of chicken and turkey. To let the taste and juice enter the meat leave it to get roasted.
- Lemon leaves can be mixed into a dough or used to garnish freshly baked bread.
- Indonesians and Thais have often used the technique of adding lemon leaves into a pot of boiling rice to retain the citrusy aroma. It is a great way if you want to use flavourful lemon leaves-infused rice as a side dish.
- Flash fry the lemon leaves in a good measure of hot oil. Many use this infused oil to drizzle into salads, and vegetables to eat fresh.
- Lemon leaves can also be used as herbal tea. Simply put fresh or dried leaves into hot boiling water until the water turns colour and can smell the flavour.
Health benefits
Besides giving a kick of flavour to dishes it also has great health benefits. Lemon leaves contain antioxidants, essential oils and vitamins that can improve circulation, boost the immune system, improve one’s skin health etc.
